Chess is a game that is known to be a benchmark for geniuses and a game with military strategy. “Chess isn’t a real war nor is it just a game.” 1 Chess is a game that is played on an 8x8 board with 16 pieces for each side. There are two sides black and white which both have the same pieces, 2 bishops, 2 rooks , 2 knights , 1 queen , 1 king and 8 pawns on each side.
The earliest records of chess were found in the 7th century in the Gupta Empire. The game was made when the youngest prince of the empire was killed and was used to present the scene of the prince’s death. Chess during this time was called Chaturanga, which is the Sanskrit word for 4 divisions. This is because the game had four divisions of military (chariots, elephants, cavalry and infantry) which were the knight, rook, pawn and bishop respectively. Chess also gained its terminology like king which is “Shah” in Sanskrit and “Shah mat” which is checkmate, or the king is trapped. Chess was unique compared to the other board games as each piece had different rules and the game had a king.
Due to the popularity of chess it was introduced to the Arab world through Islamic conquests of Persia and gave its role as a tactical military simulator. It also began being used as terms to describe political power.
By 1000 ad, chess had spread through trade across Asia and Europe and became part of education. It was used as allegories to present different classes performing their roles. The pieces became reinterpreted during this period as the old piece shapes and names became outdated.
Chess evolved over the next 20 century and introduced chess theory, rules, chess computers and more.
1 TED-ed 2020, A brief history of chess - Alex Gendler, Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeB-1F-UKO0&ab_channel=TED-Ed (26/02/23)